


Check

by Tale



Category: K (Anime)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Chess Motifs, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-17
Updated: 2013-01-17
Packaged: 2017-11-25 19:49:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/642380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tale/pseuds/Tale
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Not soon after his shogi craze, Totsuka Tatara picks up chess.</p>
<p>
  <i>"Then, Totsuka, which piece are you?"</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Check

Not soon after his shogi craze, Totsuka Tatara picks up chess.

* * *

"Totsuka-san, why chess?"

When Yata asks him that question, most likely to distract him from asking for yet another chess match, Tatara's already long prepared his answer. Smiling as he sweeps the chessboard and clears up the red and pink remnants of their previous game, Tatara answers, "Well, don't you think life is like a chessboard?" He picks one piece up and holds it out. "For example, this is King."

"Totsuka-san, you're holding the queen," Yata says very bluntly.

He nods. "Exactly! King is the queen!" At Yata's blank expression, Tatara laughs and explains, "The queen is the most powerful piece, moving wherever she wants without care, only bound by the constraints of the games' rules!"

Izumo snorts from behind his counter. "If Mikoto heard you say that..."

"Oh, I've already told King."

The other members of Homra look at him with mixed surprise and admiration but Tatara only continues to set the chessboard as he calls out the names of his companions, "Yata and Fushimi are the knights. Kusanagi-san and Anna are the bishops-"

"Wait, what about you, Totsuka-san?" Yata interrupts, leaning in to look at the remaining pieces. "I know! You're the king!"

"Eh?" Tatara blinks, cocking his head to the side. "Yata, why do you say that?"

"Because Totsuka-san really is too weak!" Yata shouts and continues, "But that's okay, Totsuka-san, because we'll protect you! Nobody can get past us to get at you!"

Tatara's smile turns somewhat troubled.

* * *

"You know, you never answered," Izumo says later when the rest have gone home and it's just the two of them, one cleaning up and the other watching him clean.

In the middle of putting the chessboard away, Tatara looks up. "Answered?"

"Which piece you are, of course."

Tatara smiles. "When you're this serious about it, Kusanagi-san, it's kind of embarrassing."

"Now you're just trying to stall."

Laughing again, Tatara moves closer the counter with chessboard in hand. "So," he starts curiously, "what do you see me as?"

"I did ask you first." Though Izumo sighs, he still goes on to say, "Yata-chan's right. You're-"

"How cruel! Being called weak still hurts me, Kusanagi-san," Tatara interjects in mild protest.

"I was going to say," Izumo continues, "you're a pillar of Homra. If the king is lost, the chess game is lost, isn't it? That's why, we can't do without you, Totsuka. You're one of us."

When Tatara doesn't respond immediately, Izumo just smiles and waits. After a few more seconds of silence, Tatara finally strains out, "Kusanagi-san, that's too much."

Izumo grins. "If you disagree and Mikoto is the queen, what is your king?"

"Of course it's Homra!"

Izumo smiles at that and shakes his head. "What has to be protected, huh?" He pulls the chessboard from Tatara's hands and lays it down on the counter. "Then, Totsuka, which piece are you?"

* * *

"Anna is a bishop and King is the queen! Because King is the most powerful one and Anna is always by King's side, see?" Explaining his analogy for the third time, Tatara beams at Mikoto before turning back to look at Anna.

Anna doesn't hesitate as she asks, "What about Tatara?"

"Me? This one!"

Anna's wide eyes study the red pawn in Tatara's fingers.

Mikoto's scowl deepens. "You..."

"Don't make that face at me, King. I'm-"

"I understand," Anna suddenly says, "the pawn can change. Become anyone's strength. Just like Tatara."

Tatara stops. He and Mikoto both turn to look at Anna, who only just gazes straight at Tatara.

"Isn't it?" she asks.

"...I've lost to you too, Anna," Tatara says. As Mikoto snorts in amusement, Tatara can only smile.

* * *

But then King plays his chess like he plays shogi without care for his own king and Totsuka Tatara decides it's time to stop.

**Author's Note:**

> I ... cut a lot of things, including an optional heartwrenching epilogue comparing the loss of Tatara to the loss of the game that I didn't really want to write.
> 
> Also yes the chess pieces are red and pink, even the board is red and white~
> 
> And because I thought it was a waste to not explain how the epilogue was in my head, it's at the very bottom of this note!
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't play chess 8D
> 
> There are two different chess analogies to this piece, both centered around Tatara. One _'Tatara is King'_ is first suggested by Yata and supported by Izumo, the other _'Tatara is Pawn'_ comes from Tatara's own happiness at being a supporting character who is there to push the people around him forwards.
> 
> In chess, the king's death is pretty much the end of the game. The loss of Tatara is what drives the anime and Homra forward -- and even if Homra does take down the murderer, they've still lost a very important person to them and life will never be the same again.
> 
> In the _'Tatara is Pawn'_ analogy, he equates the King piece to Homra. Suoh Mikoto is not a weak person and, as such, he doesn't need protection (even if he does need support). Homra is the second thing that Tatara himself clings to -- the first being Suoh Mikoto himself -- and it's only natural he sees it as something important. Important enough that if it's lost, the 'game' is over.
> 
> It is this second analogy that connects to the fic's present ending -- Suoh Mikoto plays chess without care for his King piece. On one level I wanted to nod back at how he was described in canon to have played shogi; on another, I was trying to parallel how Mikoto plays chess to how the events of the anime played out: in order to avenge Tatara, Mikoto stops at nothing. Even knowing he will die, and that he would have to leave the rest of Homra behind, he still chooses to go through with it.
> 
> But, in the end, the King piece survives. It is the Queen that dies. (Unless Mikoto lives, somehow. I'm looking at you, S2.)


End file.
